“The Prayer of the Righteous”

Happiness does not equal joy. You already know that. But we can never be reminded of the distinction too often. In a society that says - “Your satisfaction and fulfillment depends on you being in just the right circumstances” - with the result that so many people have a single minded focus - “What will make me happy? What will make me happy?”

In an article in Forbes, business consultant Liz Ryan argues that companies shouldn't be obsessed with having "happy employees." Instead, she argues that employers should focus on helping employees connect to a greater mission. She goes on to give the following example of a mission-driven person:

Let's imagine a person completely immersed in his or her work. We'll use the greatest violin maker in the world as our example. I don't know who makes the greatest violins in the world, but we'll imagine that it's an Italian violin maker named Franco and that Franco has a studio where 15 or 20 apprentice and journeyman violin makers work alongside Franco making the most exquisite violins in the world.

Is Franco happy? He is alternately ecstatic, frustrated, transported, confused, exhausted and lost in the zone. He and his work are inextricable from one another. No one would say about Franco or his employees "They're happy." Instead, people in Franco's town would say "Those guys live and breathe violins, and people around the world rejoice."

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Prayer, Always the Proper Posture.

, prayer is mentioned no less than seven times. Prayer is the proper response to every situation in life.

, prayer is mentioned no less than seven times. Prayer is the proper response to every situation in life.

Verse 13, “Is anyone among you suffering?” - that is, ‘afflicted with suffering - not just physical, but also mental .... overwhelmed with discouragement, despairing, tormented by the dark night of the soul ...”. Is anyone in that state?

God provides one great answer: “Let him pray”

Verse 13 goes on, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise”. Praise is another form of prayer

Verse 14, “Is anyone among you sick?” “Without strength - bedridden, unable to go on?” Is that you? This is what we looked at, last week: “Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him … anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

Now, we can sometimes get this backward in the church today - Some people get the idea in their heads that if they get sick - the pastor or elders should be on the doorstep - they should automatically know that ....

But the church office doesn’t have Alexa - “Alexa, who’s sick today?” James puts the onus on the sick person: “Is anyone sick? LET HIM CALL FOR the elders of the church ...” And (THEN) they will come and pray.

Talked about last week - we believe that God still heals today. In fact so does everyone who has ever prayed for a sick person to get better - - you don’t pray that unless you believe that the God who rules over the entire universe - because He created it by the Word of His mouth alone -

We believe God heals - - but we don’t believe that He does it by Celebrity Healers who take your money and command sicknesses out of people .... We believe in healing, but not HEALERS … God has chosen to respond in response to the prayers of His people. Plain old, ordinary, local church elders - which we focused on last week. But not just elders. Verse 16 goes on:

“Therefore, confess your sins TO ONE ANOTHER and PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED.”

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Healing and Prayer

Let’s just use common sense. If there’s anybody here … If God came to you tonight and said, “I want you to know that from now on anything you ask for sincerely in complete faith, not selfishly, anything you ask for that you think will be good for you, you think will be good for your beloveds, and you think will be glorifying God, anything you ask for sincerely in faith I will give you without condition” …

If God came down and said that to you, if you had any brains in your head you would stop praying immediately and never pray again. All of your friends would also come to you if they had a brain in their heads and say, “Please never pray for me again.” Why? Remember 4:13 and 14? It says, “You do not know.”

Have you ever wanted something sincerely you thought would honor God, you thought would be good for you, you thought would be good for everybody around you, and if you had gotten it it would have destroyed a lot of people, a lot of things? Have you ever sought and gotten something you were sincerely sure was good for you, sincerely sure was good for people around you, and sincerely thought honored God, and it was destructive? Have you ever made a mistake? Of course.

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Healing and Prayer

Do you think that would be criminal, to give a 10-year-old a.45 with armor-piercing bullets? It would be far more criminal for God to say, “Whatever you ask for in faith without condition I will give you.” Prayer would no longer have power. Or it would have power, but it would have destructive power. It wouldn’t be something we were excited about. We wouldn’t say, “Look at the power of prayer.” We’d be frightened by it. We should be frightened by it. It would be child abuse if our Father who art in heaven gave you things regardless.

That’s the reason why what we always say (and I’ll say it again tonight) is when you ask something of God, God will either give you what you ask or he will give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows. He’s your Father, and fathers are like that. Don’t you want a Father like that? Therefore, that’s the reason there’s unanswered prayer. Why unanswered prayer? Because he loves you.

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2. CONFESSION

In verse 16, there is another situation in life that James uses as a call to prayer: sin. Look at the end of v. 15 and then into v. 16, “… And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

James is saying when a sick Christian is looking for physical healing, that sick Christian needs to search his or her heart and look for sin there and if there’s something there - confess that sin and get the relationship with God right. that sometimes, the reason for sickness - is sin in our lives. “Whoa!” “Pastor, are you saying that if I get sick, it’s because I’m sinning and I need to confess my sins?!” Let me be clear - I am NOT saying that whenever you get sick - sin is the cause. Not saying that .... but sometimes it is. That’s what the Bible says.

It’s definitely NOT always the cause. The reason there is sickness and death in this world at all, is because, way back in history, our first ancestors - Adam and Eve, made the choice to rebel against God and brought pain and decay into the human race. If the human race had not chosen to go our own way - I believe that there would not be sickness or death in our world.

Sometimes, our sickness is because of the sins of other people -

Sometimes, a person is sick - physically afflicted and nobody’s sin is to blame. That’s what Jesus said, in . He and his disciples are walking by and notice one a man sitting at the roadside, reduced to begging by a debilitating physical condition in his day: the man was blind - had not been able to see from the time of his birth. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” You can see the framework that the disciples are working from: “Here is a man suffering with physical disability - bad things don’t happen to good people. So, since this man is suffering, somebody MUST HAVE DONE WRONG - the only question is, ‘Whom’.”

“Jesus, who’s sin made this man blind - is it his own fault, or his parents’ fault that he’s stuck here, begging?” Jesus gives his answer in , “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

“Your paradigm is wrong. Nobody sinned - this man is in his present physical condition because God has a plan - He’s chosen to use this man’s sickness to put His glory on display.” Friend, this may very well be the case for you: You are suffering, struggling with some kind of suffering - you have searched your heart, opened yourself up to the Lord’s blazing, penetrating gaze - asked the Spirit to show you any hidden sin in your life. There is honestly nothing. God may very well have singled you out, chosen you for a great purpose - to display His glory in your very situation. There could be no higher honor than that.

But you are right to examine yourself for sin, because there are times when sin does bring about sickness. At most of our times around the communion table, I read from Paul’s words in . The church in the city of Corinth was a circus, in so many ways. Out of control in

- “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (30) That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have died.” Do you see what Paul is saying? There are some people inside the church who are physically ill - some who even have died - because they held onto their sin and charged into the Lord’s presence around the communion table.

Society that treats sin as a joke -

“Oh, but that sounds like SO much ancient superstition - ‘you’re sick and and it’s because you’re sinning and you need to confess your sins’?” well, sometimes yes.

People who know a whole lot more about medicine and science will tell you how often spiritual and emotional issues - anger, guilt, anxiety, fear - how much these

I used to think that a ‘psychosomatic illness’ was a sickness that’s just all in your head. Someone goes through a traumatic experience -

But I’ve seen it first hand. My dad suffered with Huntington’s disease for years. Mom had to care for him for over 10 years. When she was battling cancer, he had to go into a care home. But even while the Huntingtons had debilitated him - he was physically healthy in every other way. The day mom died and I remember making the excruciating journey to his care home to tell him the news. He had no idea it was coming. None of us did. And from the moment I told him that his wife was gone … something changed in him. The next day, the care home phoned to say that he had was not well and I needed to come because an ambulance was coming to take him to the hospital. Five days later, I got the call to get to the hospital as quickly as possible - he didn’t have much time. Six days after mom died, dad was gone. There was no physical reason for him to have died. He died from a broken heart - it was a psychosomatic illness.

And a psychosomatic illness is NOT just in your mind - it really is in your body - Your heart really is breaking down with the grief. You have real headaches from the worry. You have real ulcers from the fear. You have real stomach issues from the bitterness and anger. Your body IS breaking. These are not imaginary sicknesses. They are REAL - and they are aggravated and sometimes ultimately caused by emotional and SPIRITUAL issues.

James is saying to us - “Are you sick? Struggling with illness of any kind - physical, mental health .... then make use of the medical system, by all means - medicine and science are God’s gifts to us. But DON’T STOP there - - Do business with God - - make sure you’re right with Him. Make sure to get at peace with God when you’re sick.”

There is nothing better you can do for your physical state than to do some SPIRITUAL healing - get your conscience clear and sense God’s love afresh.

“Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

You may even have been tracking with me to this point - you ‘get’ that you can’t mess around with sin and expect to be healthy and whole. But this idea of ‘confessing your sins to one another’ - - that’s just a little much! Maybe you get the image in your head of sitting in a confessional box - telling a priest every bad deed you’ve done, every bad word you’ve said and every lustful thought you’ve entertained - - and then waiting for him to grant you forgiveness on God’s behalf. That’s NOT what the Bible is talking about. There is one God and ONE MEDIATOR between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Preaching the Word: James—Faith That Works The Prayer of the Righteous—Its Power (v. 16)

Having said this, there is a place for Spirit-directed mutual confession between believers. Prior to World War II in Nazi Germany, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer conducted an underground seminary for the training of young pastors in Pomerania, where he shared a common life with about twenty-five students. His experience produced a now famous spiritual classic, Life Together, in which he documents the Biblical insights gained from that experience. In the fifth and final chapter of the book, “Communion and Confession,” he gives some reasons for the practice of mutual confession. Primary among them is the isolation that sin brings. Sin drives Christians apart and produces a hellish individualism—a deadening autonomy. Says Bonhoeffer, “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him.” But confession to a fellow brother or sister destroys this deadly autonomy. It pulls down the barrier of hypocrisy and allows the free flow of grace in the community.

The other main benefit of confession is that it brings healthy humiliation. Bonhoeffer goes on:

Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride. To stand there before a brother as a sinner is an ignominy that is almost unbearable. In the confession of concrete sins the old man does a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother.

Thus confession helps to promote a poverty of spirit which is acceptable to God: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

This is

James is also NOT saying, “Air your dirty laundry in front of the church”. Have heard people confessing the sins they’ve committed and the stories get so juicy - that by the end of the ‘testimony’, you are wondering - “Who’s the hero here?! Does God get the glory - or the ‘confessor’ - because he was such a ‘bad dude’? Notice what v. 16 actually says: “… confess your sins to one another and pray for one another”. There may be times when I have wronged the whole group and it may be appropriate to confess to the entire body. But normally, I meet the whole congregation in the one person I confess my sin to.

It means that if I have sinned against a brother or sister in Christ, I go to that person and confess. And it means I confess my sin - not the sin done TO me by someone else. We can be pretty good at that .... eyes off of our own wrong choices and focused on the wrongs done against us. James covered this issue earlier in the letter.

The Message of James The Friends at Prayer: A Spirit of Reconciliation (5:16a)

the biblical principle is consistently that “confession” is due to the party who has been offended’. The believers whom James brings before us have not met to engage in mutual confession of secret sins—for the ‘confession’ of such is owed to God alone. Rather it is because the one has sinned against the other and is seeking opportunity, in private fellowship, to put things right, or because each has offended the other and they are ready to confess and be reconciled.

This is an act of mutual fellowship - and there is power here - but the power doesn’t come from the act of confessing, as important as it is. See where James puts the emphasis in the last half of verse 16: “… confess your sins to one another AND PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, that you may be healed.”

Oh there is freedom that comes when I take off my masks - so carefully constructed to persuade the people around me that “I’m okay. Nothing to see here.” When I confess to my Christian brothers that I’m not okay … there is a relief that comes from being real and honest.

..... but again, the Bible points to the POWER that’s wielded by a Christian in prayer. Verse 16 ends with a sentence that’s meant to encourage us: “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

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3. THE POWERFUL PRAYER OF THE RIGHTEOUS

This is the third point we get from our text this morning. This is where I want to focus our attention for the rest of our time: “THE POWERFUL PRAYER OF THE RIGHTEOUS”.

Right about now, there are some of us who are feeling absolutely helpless and hopeless. “I am anything but righteous! And if the power of my prayer depends on how GOOD - how HOLY I can be - then what’s the point of even praying at all. I’m wasting my time and God’s.

If that’s you - then you are partly right - , “If I regard iniquity in my heart ..........

But don’t stop there. Confess your sin and look at v. 17 - “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. (18) Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

And you say, “This is supposed to be an encouragement?! I know enough about Elijah to know that he was a great man of God - so faithful, so righteous in life, that he didn’t even die - God took him up to heaven in a whirlwind.” Oh, brother and sister - this IS supposed to encourage. If you go back to the OT, to the books of 1 and 2 Kings - and read about Elijah - that will help you - should encourage you.

No doubt about it - Elijah was a hero - Top Three in the Old Testament. When Jesus was Transfigured on the mountain - and there, suddenly there were two other men there - talking with him - one of them was Moses; the other was Elijah.

This is the one who challenged the prophets of the false god, Baal, on Mt. Carmel. God’s people had turned from worshiping Him - the One who had rescued them, protected them, fought for them .... and they had thrown their lot in with the foreign god of their neighbors. Elijah was vastly outnumbered - but he doesn’t back down. He challenges Ba’al’s dominant representatives: “Let’s have a Cutthroat Kitchen cook-off to prove who’s god REALLY has the power. You put a sacrifice on your altar and call on your god to send fire to consume the sacrifice to show that he’s worthy of worship. I’ll do the same and call on my God - let’s see who sends the fire.”

Ba’al’s prophets do their thing and call out to him - - and call … and call. Nothing. Elijah engages in a little taunting: “Shout louder! Maybe he’s asleep and you need to wake him up. He’s a busy god - maybe he’s on a trip somewhere.” Lunchtime comes and still nothing - they keep dancing and shouting frantically and start cutting themselves until their blood flows. (Reminds me of some ‘faith-healers’ I’ve seen). All day long - no response. Nothing.

Then Elijah says, “Watch this” (Not exactly). He not only repairs the altar to the LORD which by this time was in ruins after years of neglect .... he digs a trench around it, puts the sacrifice on top … and pours out jar after jar of water over the offering, over the wood, until the whole thing is soaking wet and the trench at the bottom is full. When all that is done - he does no dancing, no cutting, he just prays: “O LORD - - God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and I am your servant following your command.” That’s it - - and no sooner does Elijah say ‘Amen’ to end his prayer - than God answers .... fire falls from heaven and not only burns up the sacrifice and the wood, but even the soil around the altar and the water in the trench.

Elijah is some kind of hero. There’s also the time that when he’s staying with the widow at Zarephath and the widow’s son gets sick and dies. Elijah takes the dead son to his own room - and cries out to the Lord three times - “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” And the Lord hears the cry - and answers with life to the dead child.

And the event James is referring to in our passage is when Elijah, continuing his life and death battle battle against the forces of Ba’al, led by the queen and king of Israel. He tells king Ahab that it isn’t going to rain in the land for three years then runs for his life to hide out in the wilderness. Then, three years later, after the battle with the prophets of Ba’al - on his command - the sky grows black with clouds and heavy rains fall.”

What a life - I want to do a series on the life of Elijah, one of these days. But we look at this life and think - “How can this encourage me?! Elijah is a spiritual GIANT - I am so NOT like him.”

But notice what James stresses: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” He was a sinner just like you and me. He knew depression. He thought he was the only one in the entire nation who still followed the Lord. It got so bad, ironically, after one of his greatest victories - that he asked the Lord to just take his life. Elijah knew the dark places.

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” Oh, but he knew how to pray. Verse 17, “… and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. (18) Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

The Message of James Elijah: A Person of Prayer

James sums it all up by saying that he prayed fervently, but RSV is not our best guide here to James’ meaning. The Greek says, literally, ‘with prayer he prayed’ and the meaning is not his fervency, nor even his frequency of prayer, but that ‘he just prayed’—that, and nothing more! James Adamson puts it correctly when he says, ‘Not that Elijah put up a particularly fervent prayer, but that praying was precisely what he did.’ The general truth which James is drawing out of the history of Elijah is expressed in verse 17: human prayer, divine results. To withhold rain is something only God can do. Verse 18 draws it out a little further. Prayer operates even in the apparently fixed laws of the natural order. It can master the forces of the heavens (18a). Prayer (18b) is also the key to earthly blessing and fruitfulness. God the Creator orders the life of the world in the light of the prayers of his people.

Here’s the interesting thing. “The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” That’s the old King James Version. And the prayer of a more righteous man would avail more. The prayer of a perfectly righteous man would avail perfectly, and you have One. says, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It’s Christ who died, who has risen, yea, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, who ever maketh intercession for us.”

What is that? He’s praying for us. Now he’s perfectly righteous, and he has absolute knowledge. He’s never going to be turned down again. Remember the time when Jesus said to Peter, “Peter, you’re going to deny me,” and Peter says, “Not me, not me. Never!” and Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan wanted to have you. He was going to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, and when you turn,” he says, “when you repent, you’ll be a great leader.”

He doesn’t say, “If you turn.” He says, “When you turn.” Why? Because the prayer of a righteous man, a perfectly righteous man, can never be turned down. There’s only One, and he’s praying for you. Sometimes you pray for something he doesn’t pray for. Only when it would be a bad thing for you. What is he up there praying for? He’s praying for your holiness. He’s praying for your happiness. He’s always praying that you stay faithful to him.

That’s the reason he can say, “Simon, Simon, no matter what Satan does, I’ve prayed for you. You’re never going to lose God, and God is never going to lose you, because when God looks at you he sees me, the perfectly righteous.” The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, and we have One.

Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.